Unequally Rational and Emotional Darkness
by OverMaster
Summary: Formerly URAE Neo. Reworked since the Alternate Universe approach wasn't working. Set after the Kyoto Arc of the Unequally verse. Highly Mature content in later chapters. Goes where the old URAE could never go! Edited by SCM and Darkenning.


Disclaimer: _Mahou Sensei Negima_ and all related elements and characters are the property and creation of Akamatsu Ken, and the authors of this humble piece have made no material profit from it, and never will do.

_Ah my Goddess!_ and all its characters were created by and are the property of Fujishima Kosuke.

_Mai Hime_ and all its characters belong to Sunrise.

Batman, Superman and all related characters and elements belong to DC Comics.

All other characters mentioned also belong to their respective copyright holders. We make no money out of them, either.

Any resemblance of anything in this story with anything in real life beyond "human beings have eyes and legs" is a simple coincidence.

Thanks a million to Shadow Crystal Mage, Darkenning, and all others who colaborated with Unequally Rational and Emotional, and hopefully will continue doing so.

* * *

**Complicated Bloodline, Lesson 0: Chamo**

(No, really!)

* * *

**Prelude: Previously, in Unequally Rational and Emotional…**

_"Well, you see, Dean Konoe gave special instruction for Negi-sensei to move here until we can find a permanent place for him," Shizuna informed them._

_"I'm sorry to be a bother," the boy apologized._

_"What?" Chisame snapped. "He's supposed to be a teacher, isn't he? Why can't he stay with another teacher?"_

_"Most of us either live too far, have children of their own, or simply have far too small living quarters," the beautiful blonde explained patiently. "He can't live alone, and your other classmates are too... enthusiastic or too... complex for a child to be trusted with"._

_Chisame made a face. How desperate did they have to be for the two of them to be their best hope? In any case, it was logical to guess the old man wouldn't dump that load on his beloved granddaughter. Damn favoritism. _

_Satomi didn't look too shaken by the news, but still seemed wary in her own way. "I don't think I could carry out my experiments freely if I have him running around," she informed dutifully._

_"You shouldn't be carrying out experiments here in the first place," the adult reminded her._

_Hakase sighed. "It always has to be that loophole, doesn't it?"_

* * *

_**And Then…!**_

"_He's a mage," Satomi calmly pointed out from above._

_"A mage? That's ridiculous," Chisame blinked several times. "And scientifically impossible. For you of all people to say that..."_

_"Um, actually, she's right" Negi meekly conceded. "I'm a wizard, or mage. Both definitions are technically correct"._

_Chisame gave him a blank and huge shocked stare. "No. For real?" she eeped out._

_"I'm telling you the truth," their teacher insisted. "That thing yesterday with the eraser? I did it. It was a lesser version of the spell I just used on you."_

_Chisame just kept looking at him, unable to speak._

* * *

_**AND THEN…!**_

_Negi, meanwhile, was chuckling softly, pulling his roster-book out and writing 'WE BEAT HER!' under Eva's picture. "Anyway, Evangeline-san, now you'll stop attacking people at night, won't you? And you won't skip any more classes, either... You'll study hard so you can graduate along with everyone else!"_

_Evangeline's dangerous smirk returned. "We'll see about that. But remember this, and remember it well, Boya. Watch your back. Because I'm far from being the only powerful enemy your father made, and they'll be gunning for you right like I was. You might not be so lucky next time." She turned to his Ministra. "As for the lot of you, I'd suggest pondering your future choices while you still have them. Tonight, you put on a pathetic, sad showing of poor, uncoordinated skills. If you really want to be Ministra Magi, you'll have to try better than that. If not, just quit right now. You've been warned. That's something the Mistress of Darkness does for almost no one." Her fierce green eyes sparkled threateningly._

* * *

**Now:**

**Prologue.**

What is more harmful, doing too little, or doing too much?

Konoe Konoemon had been accused of both things a lot of times through his long, long life. Mostly of the former in his latest years of life, although not as much recently. Since, well, he was old, and you couldn't blame him for not being that active anymore, right? No doubt he was starting to grow senile, and that always was an issue no one ever wanted to touch. You're supposed to humor old people, after all, while waiting for them to meet Death head-on and get out of their miseries and ours.

Konoe Konoemon was aware he still was respected, but more due to his past, his legacy and the power he had, rather than his current activities. Some said he was too soft and liberal; others argued he was too old fashioned and out of touch with today's youth and their needs. All behind his back, of course, but Konoemon knew every argument, every discomfort voiced only in occasional whispers, mostly unsaid save for the direst circumstances. They always found a way to his ears, somehow.

The old man shuffled from behind his large oak desk and around his office, supporting his weight on his cane. Not that he really needed the cane; theoretically, he would need it after lengthy periods of physical strain, but since he never achieved those periods of activity anymore, and the amounts of strain he would need to get tired would have completely spent most men under thirty, leaving them literally dry dead husks, that was never a problem. Still, he had grown to like the cane, and the way it allowed him to be lazy in his walking, like a pampering mother carrying a child old enough to walk. It was a small innocent vice, like the random bottle of wine and the freak pipe smoke here and there, only continuous, and serving the purpose of making him look frail and tired.

Although in a way, he was tired.

He was tired of doing so little while doing so much.

"The wait's the worst part," he mused, looking through his window.

Mahora Academy lay beneath him, majestic and radiant, full of life and energy. Not always wisely used energy, but again, how was he to talk? His children, no, the children of the future, walked in all directions, never resting quiet, vibrant and happy, under the bright sun and the clear sky. It was a truly pleasant sight. Only seeing his granddaughter's face made him happier.

Many of them were strange and dangerous, and those were, as a matter of fact, his favorites. Those were the ones he had handpicked personally, the ones who couldn't be allowed to stray anywhere else. There was High School 3-F. High School 1-E. Middle School 1-A. Middle School 3-A.

3-A. The jewel on his crown. And not only because his dearest person was there.

"Forgive me," he whispered.

Summer was approaching, and with it, the time to check on the results of his bet.

"Forgive me," he whispered again.

What was done was done, after all. No point of ruminating back on it. He couldn't do anything but forge ahead now, and so would they.

The old half-Chinese man turned around and oddly waddled his way to the office's door.

* * *

**Monday Morning:**

It had been a peaceful, uneventful week ever since Class 3-A's return from Kyoto and the departure of the alternate universe Ala Alba. Except for one detail or seven.

* * *

**The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives**

Something he had learned quite early in his life, and he was sure his brother was learning it step by step now, too, was the world was an inherently bad, mean and crappy place, but you could improve it by placing relatively little effort into it; all you needed was knowing exactly where to apply that effort. The extent to which you could improve on it depended on your capacities, and the Bro had a lot of capacities and the iron will to carry on them with hard work, so Albert Chamomille had a huge trust he would change the world in a radical way, someday.

Of course, conning and tricking your way through life demanded a lot of effort as well, and Chamo, as he was known by most, prided himself on his own skills at taking opportunities others might have considered immoral or questionable. The white ermine elf didn't care about anything those he regarded as squeamish could think about him. Lesser men and women were always quick to doubt the hard working visionaries and their enterprises.

From the day he had arrived to Mahora Academy months ago, with a squad of police ermines hot on his trail all the way from Wales, he had recognized the unique potential of the situation his 'brother' Negi Springfield had landed himself into. Chamo got him provisional contracts with Hasegawa Chisame, Kasuga Misora, Hakase Satomi, Kakizaki Misa, Kagurazaka Asuna, Shiina Sakurako, Suzushiro Haruka, Saotome Haruna, Yukihiro Ayaka, Akashi Yuuna, Hasegawa Sora, Konoe Konoka and Sakurazaki Setsuna during that short span; far many more Pactios than most mages got through their whole lives. And the Bro could sustain them all with little to no problems; his magic pools showed no signs of being anywhere near their limits. It all thrilled Chamo beyond reason. He had to link Negi to even more partners, making him the greatest mage of his era, even greater than his father, Nagi Springfield the Thousand Master.

And naturally, that would make Chamo himself very rich in the process, but that was part of being a successful entrepreneur. Everyone profited from your actions, including yourself.

It all reminded Chamo of those days until less than a year ago, when Negi still was studying with his childhood friend Anya Cocolova. Anya was a very pretty girl one year older than Negi, with healthy red hair and gorgeous green eyes, active and athletic, the second best in their class, after Negi.

_"C'mon, Anya-Sis!" the ermine pleaded, running after her through the majestic corridors of Merdiana Academy. "It'll be only a little kiss! A peck on the lips! I'd bet you even will like it! And even if you don't, well, it's a small price to pay for all the power you and the Bro will get out of it!"_

"Leave me alone, weasel!" the girl finally had enough, turning around and stomping on Chamo hard and frantically. "Negi is still only a whiny brat! Why would I want to be his Magistra?"

"I... I was thinking you'd be the Ministra..." Chamo gurgled under her heel, only to be stomped even harder.

"What!" Anya shrieked. "Why would I be the Ministra? Negi could kiss a bucket and the bucket would become his Magister! Don't make me laugh!"

It was always the same way.

But now, it was Chamo who laughed, well, chuckled in this particular case, as he leaped down from the drawer of stolen feminine underwear where he slept (most of it unwillingly supplied by one Kuga Natsuki-sempai). He'd get Anya one day, for his Bro of course, he was sure of that. As it was right now, he took a satisfied look at the upper bunk where, once again, Negi had snuck in next to Chisame in his sleep, Satomi doing the same from Chisame's other side. Both smaller figures cuddled against the uneasily sleeping secret Net idol, who snorted at periodic intervals.

Chamo was very proud of Chisame's 'catch', although she'd kill him if she knew he thought of it that way. Being the first one to contract with Negi, she had become his primary partner, and she had, despite her numerous and constant complains, taken the responsibility with a drive that overcame her physical limitations- while strong enough for a teenager when flying in a mad rage, she was no trained fighter, and in close combat she was all but lost most of the time. They'd have to work on that later on.

And Negi, Chamo could tell, despite his claims of all students being equal for him, felt closer to Chisame than to anyone else.

Chamo would make sure that relationship would go all the way. Someday.

Whistling to himself, the ermine scurried out a window. The Chao Bao Zi had to be opening to sell breakfasts, and Yotsuba Satsuki and Karakuri Chachamaru always tossed generous crumbs and leftovers his way. Not that Chisame-Anego was an awful cook, but nothing ever compared to Satsuki's cooking.

Maybe he also could arrange a Pactio for her along the eventual way.

At the same time, in the dorm room next door, another small magic infused animal yawned and stretched, waking up from his first full night of sleep at Mahora. He felt well rested and ready to tackle on anyone or anything, especially Clow Cards.

On second thought, he told himself as his tiny nose caught on a pleasant smell coming from the kitchenette, he was ready to tackle on anyone or anything, especially breakfast. Humming to himself, he unfolded his diminutive white wings and flew there, finding Nodoka and Yue, already in their school uniforms and working together on the meal's finishing touches.

"Good morniiiiiiing!" Kerberos greeted them happily. "Oh, you two woke up early! Good, good! That's a fine trait for a Card Captor, Nodoka!"

"Good morning, Kero-san," his newest protege greeted back. "Well, we wouldn't ever want to be late in a first day of classes. We'll have your breakfast ready in only a moment..."

"Kerberos-san," Yue spoke next, in her usual tone, which was far more on the flat side than Nodoka's. "What will we do about the Clow Cards? We unleashed them at Kyoto, after all, but we just couldn't stay there to deal with them, and we only got three so far..."

"Tch, don't worry about that part," the plush lion told her. "The cards will always tend to gravitate around the ones who freed them, attracted by their magical energy and that of the Clow book itself. Some of them will challenge you and try their best to defeat you and be free permanently. Others will subconsciously look for your help, feeling lost and longing for a master, although one they feel like testing first. The thing is, once they have felt you have moved here, and trust me, they are very quick to catch on those things, they'll make their way to these grounds."

"How convenient," Yue muttered.

"Would you prefer going back to Kyoto every weekend?" Kero challenged.

"Actually, I was thinking on handing that duty over to someone who lived in Kyoto, but there's no point on discussing that now, is there?" Yue exhaled.

During breakfast, it amazed the girls seeing how much and how quick could a creature as tiny as Kero eat. When Yue discreetly asked on it, he only said "I need to recover my original form fast!" and kept on gorging himself.

"Didn't you tell us you'd need to recover all the core Elemental cards for that?" Yue insisted. "What does eating a lot have to do with that at all? Also, where does all that food go? You have eaten thrice your body mass already!"

Before those fascinating questions could be answered, a loud and masculine, but not manly enough, shriek of surprise and terror ran through the air, startling the trio.

"W-W-What was that?-!" Nodoka gasped.

Yue had paled. "Plato's word, that was Rito-sempai..."

"Sempai?" Nodoka blinked. "But Yue-Yue, he lives far, far away from here! It couldn't possibly be... Could it?"

Yue swallowed hard, running a hand over her throat. For some reason, a single word kept coming and coming to her mind now.

_Lala._

* * *

_**Meanwhile…!**_

If there was anything life had taught Yuuki Nao, that was money could get you anything but a return ticket from the death. Money had bought her father freedom after he took advantage of her mother, one of his students, in a confusing incident the yellow press had dubbed 'the orgybus'. When, years later, her mother was mugged and left comatose by a street gang linked to someone with far more power and influences than Nao's uncle and aunt (all hints pointed to Nao's father), the case never went anywhere. Had she been a Bruce Wayne, loaded with more money than a king, she might have devoted her anger and channeled her frustrations into becoming a vigilante. Instead, with nothing but what Uncle and Aunt saw fit tossing her way, she'd become an opportunist, out for her own hide and little else.

Then again, Uncle's money had also bought her and her two cousins that nifty residence near the Mahora teachers' living quarters, while most students had to cram themselves into dorm rooms. Nao appreciated that, at the very least. Her psychological evaluations suggested not distancing her from the family she had left, so the Dean, in what Nao was sure was more of a senility display than a merciful one, allowed her to live with Rito and Mikan. She was okay with it. She really loved Mikan, and Rito-kun was such a lousy guardian it was easy to slip out every night, to do her thing.

Earning her money.

Of course, night after night of compensated dating across town, sneaking under the Mahora guardians' noses, meant she usually was doggone tired by dawn, so much she often fell asleep at classes.

Which was why it took her a few moments to react properly to Rito's scream that morning. His older cousin tended to overreact about everything, and he probably had only stubbed his toe or walked into Mikan in the shower again.

It took a second scream, this one understandable as "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" to move her to react. Was Mikan refusing to dress back up? Well, Nao had always suspected she had a thing for Rito, but she'd never imagined cute lil' Mikan would ever be so bold...

With nothing but detached curiosity and amusement, Nao, still in lingerie smelly of sweaty forty something businessmen, walked over to Rito's bedroom. Mikan was standing at the doorstep, in a Piyo-Piyo apron, slippers, shorts and a light tee-shirt, with a frying pan in a hand, and round, wildly shocked eyes. Following her gaze inside, Nao saw a naked buxom girl with long pink hair and a long black tail sitting on top of a pajama-clad, horrified out of his wits Rito.

"Huh," the red-haired delinquent student lifted an eyebrow. "Okay, Rito-kun, if not for that yell, I'd congratulate you on proving me wrong on your being gay, Saotome beard aside. Who's the babe?"

"La! La la lalalalalalala!" Rito stammered.

"What he said!" the nude girl greeted, extending an arm ahead peppily. "Good morning, people of Earth! I'm Lala Satalin Deviluke, Rito's fiancee and heiress of the Deviluke throne!"

"M-M-Madwoman!" Mikan shrieked, moving in a flash to slam her frying pan on Lala's face.

"Ten points," Nao rated her.

"GYYYYYAHHHHH!" Rito yelled, already seeing the alien warships razing the planet. "Mikan-chan, no!"

Lala blinked, rubbed her face with a hand, and smiled. "Ah! I recognize the cultural pattern of the younger sister meeting her unexpected sister-in-law! It's good to see identifiable general lines of humanoid behavior remain even in this isolated race! Less culture shock to overcome!"

Nao warily stepped in between Mikan and the lunatic. "Honestly, Rito-kun, crazy chicks are hot and easy, yeah, but there's crazy and then there's this. I know you can't be picky, and she has a killer bod, but still...!"

"Another little sister?" the stranger deduced.

"Cousin," Nao corrected her.

"P-Put on some clothes and get out of Rito's bed!" Mikan commanded.

"W-What she said!" the boy gulped. "What are you doing here anyway? What was your big idea, sneaking into my bed while I slept?"

Nao blinked. "Oh, so it was that? Should've known. The only way you'll ever get any is if someone rapes you, Rito-kun..."

"Not funny at all, Nao!" Mikan roared. Even Nao couldn't help shrinking down at that.

Lala fell to a knee before Mikan, grabbing her free hand and placing a delicate kiss on it. "My apologies! I should have announced myself before, but you all slept so peacefully, I didn't have the heart to wake you up!"

"You were watching us while we slept?-!" Mikan was even more horrified now.

Lala nodded. "I'm glad to see you love Rito so much, you even mutter his name in your...!"

Mikan's frying pan collided against Lala's face again.

"Ooooohhhh! More proof of sisterly protective love! I like you a lot already!"

* * *

**Classroom 3-A:**

"Class," Negi said later that Monday morning, still a bit unsure on how exactly to go on with that, himself. The words themselves were easy and had been carefully prepared, and even practiced a few times on his way there from the Dean's office, but the weight of what he was going to say to his closest companions was something he was not comfortable with. "I know this might come as unexpected and, ah, abrupt, but starting from this mid-term, we're going to have a new student who will honor us with her presence."

Most of the class fell into surprised and impressed gasps, although not to the undisciplined level they would have shown at the start of Negi's tutelage. Patiently, he waited for the brief chit-chat to end, then softly rapped with his eraser on his desk to silence the last few comments from Misa and Haruna.

"I want and trust you all to make her feel welcomed," Negi said very seriously, with both hands placed squarely on his desk. "Especially since she is very, very far away from her home and family."

"We'll make her feel as welcomed as you, Negi-kun!" Makie promised.

He smiled. "Thank you, Makie-san. Then I'm sure she'll feel wonderful. But please do call me Negi-sensei." And he coughed. "Everyone, without further delay, I wish to introduce you to Student Number Thirty Two, Skuld Odinson."

Chisame, Misa, Sakurako, Chao, Satomi, Yuuna, Makie, Akira, Ayaka, Asuna, Setsuna, Nodoka, Haruna and even Evangeline all made a collective spit take. The rest of the class watched expectantly how a short girl, around thirteen or possibly a young fourteen, walked in, wearing the same uniform as they did, her long and silky black hair trailing behind her. She stopped right next to Negi's desk and smirked.

"Apocalypse Girl!" Misa whispered to herself.

"Greetings, everyone!" she feistily said. "My name's Skuld, and I look forward to a very interesting school year with you!"

* * *

**Monday Evening:**

"You can walk in without any concern, Odinson-san," Minamoto Shizuna said, with a tone as sweet as heavenly honey, and as inviting as paradise. "There's nothing bad or wrong in there."

A bigger lie had never been said before.

But since Shizuna-sensei had a voice so kind and so incredibly identical to Belldandy's, Skuld was powerless to do anything but obeying her without any questions.

She followed the busty woman inside, where a sour faced Akashi Yuuna waited for them, sitting on her couch, in a Mahora basketball team tee shirt, Daisy Dukes, and mismatched socks. It was as if she had prepared herself to look as unglamorous for the occasion as possible.

Nonetheless, Shizuna decided to act as if that wasn't an issue at all. "Odinson-san, no doubt you already met Akashi Yuuna-san early this morning. She's Akashi Wataru-sensei's daughter, and a valuable player in our junior high basketball team. Starting today, you two will be roommates."

Yuuna sighed in resignation, and offered Skuld a hand. "Welcome home, Skuld-san," she monotoned, as if reading from a script after playing five consecutive games.

Her newest classmate shook the hand, not with the biggest enthusiasm either, but at least putting some effort into it. "Pleased to be here with you, Akashi-san." And she sounded, at the very least, mildly sincere.

Skuld then looked around uneasily, taking on all the basketball memorabilia and family portraits Yuuna kept around, plus a few pictures with Ako, Akira and Makie, and some gun replicas and tiny military models. Glancing past over, to the bedroom, Skuld also caught a glimpse of a copy of the Kyoto group photo on Yuuna's nightstand, plus... well, she had never met anyone who ever kept an amplified poster picture of her father in swimming trunks next to her bed. But to each their own.

"Pretty living quarters," the Norn blandly said.

"Thanks," Yuuna replied in the same tone. "Dad taught me I had to be neat and tidy, and hammered and drilled it into me since I was little," she had to laugh at her own (and inaccurate) double entendre, which made Shizuna scowl. "Although he never preaches with the example. Our home's a mess since Mom..."

She hit a bump there, choosing to get around it instead of over it by just shaking her head and continuing, "Never mind. Anyway, you're welcome to redecorate your half if you want, Sku-"

She had to stop in mid sentence when she saw Skuld already arranging astronomy models, books, complex machinery pieces, power tools, diagrams and schematics all over the room, under an amused Shizuna's gaze. "Just remember," the adult was telling her, "No experiments in your habitations!"

"Oh, everyone around here experiments in their habitations nowadays..." Yuuna snarked under her breath.

"What was that, Akashi-san?" Shizuna asked.

"Nothing."

"Promised!" Skuld placed a hand on her heart. "I'd never perform experiments in an environment where I can't properly isolate and analyze all involved variants and factors, anyway!"

"I'm glad to hear that," Shizuna regained her smile. "Well," she finished exhaling, "They will install your upper bunk tomorrow, Odinson-san, but in the meanwhile, Akashi-san has told me she has a futon she can spare to you. Or we could..."

"The futon will be fine, thanks," Skuld waved off, fighting to not clench her teeth like she wished to. "It will be only one night, right...?"

Yuuna chuckled. "Well, if you're one of those foreigners who need a bed, I can take the futon..."

"I just said I'm okay with it," Skuld tensely said, preferring a night of bad sleep over being pitied. There was pause. "But only for one night, I repeat?"

"Yes! That's perfect!" Shizuna put her hands together, pleasantly. "Then I feel confident leaving you two alone from now on. Odinson-san, if you have any further questions for me, you have my phone number, okay?"

"Okay!"

As soon as Minamoto left, no doubt to get herself drunk, Skuld asked Yuuna, "Why the sudden interest on guns and ammo?"

"Well, I must get used to them to become good with my Artifact, right? Makie-chan has said she'll coach me. You asked specifically for this room, or what?"

"It was either this one or Asakura's, and I don't enjoy being questioned all day long."

"Point. But wait, Zazie has no roommates either..."

"... I have my reasons to prefer sleeping in a burning stove at a side of a muddy road than ever going there."

"Huh?"

"Secret reasons."

"Okay, sheesh, I got it. So, um, wanna have dinner while we talk? I can defend myself in the kitchen. Mom taught me the very basics, and then my grandma..."

"Do you have ice cream?"

"Uh... Nope."

"Then let's go out for ice-cream!"

"Wait, you can't eat anything but ice-cream?"

"I can eat anything, even rat poison. It's just ice-cream is my primary energy source. Cold, delicious, sweet ice-cream...!" her mouth watered.

"A goddess who runs on ice-cream! Now I've seen everything."

"Hey, don't complain. My sister Urd runs on booze. You'd have a really hard time keeping her here...!"

* * *

**Konoka: Animal Attraction. **

"So, " a stony faced Asuna asked, "Your grandfather's excuse is that animal originally came from—?"

"Australia, " Konoka smiled, holding the small brown furry creature on her lap and petting her head.

"I don't read a lot of books on Australian animals or anything, Konoka-chan, but I've watched Animal Planet, and I don't think there are things like that in Australia. C'mon! Your grandpa knows you were held captive in a demonic ritual to awaken an evil god, so what's the harm on telling you that critter is magical?"

Konoka shrugged as she fed the happy animal with a carrot. "Does it matter if she's magical or not?"

"Well, not like I pay a lot of attention to Makie's babblings, but she's always talking about those evil wish granting critters..."

"Grandpa would never bring something that could hurt me and you know it, Asuna-chan, " her roommate gently chided her. They were alone in the bedroom after dinner, making small chat before sleeping. "My cousin Tenchi has owned Ryo-Ohki for two years now; don't you think he'd have noticed if there was something wrong with her?"

"Mya! Mya!" the small animal meowed loudly at the mention of Tenchi's name.

"Huh-huh. And have you ever met that cousin of yours personally?" Asuna questioned.

"Well, no. Apparently, he lives far too deep into the hills. And maybe he had secrets Grandpa didn't want me to learn, just like myself. Maybe this loan is their way to begin introducing me into their secrets, one step at a time."

"Betcha she can talk and offer contracts just like Chamo, " Asuna came closer, pulling her face down before Ryo-Ohki's. "I'm on you, hairy thing! Confess! You're another kiss pushing little pervert, aren't you?"

Ryo-Ohki sniffed the air, felt Asuna's agressive intent, and took a bite on her nose.

"AHHHHH! IT TRIED TO KILL ME! IT'S EVIL INCARNATE! MY NOSE! MY PRECIOUS NOSE! IT'S BITTEN OFF NOW!" Asuna's arms flailed around.

"Asuna, it was only a tiny chomp, " Konoka said. "It didn't even draw blood. You scared her..."

"IT'LL TRY KILLING ME IN MY SLEEP!"

"Now you're just being silly. She won't..."

"I REFUSE TO SLEEP IN THE SAME ROOM AS IT, AND SO SHOULD YOU!"

In the end, Konoka ended up having Ryo-chan sleep over at Ayaka's every night after playing with her all day long. It worked great, actually, since Makie loved Ryo-chan, and Ayaka and Ryo-chan found... some common ground of sorts.

Asuna was bitten ten more times before the week ended.

* * *

**The Tower.**

She was gorgeous, like a statue of a Greek goddess given life. She had very short golden hair, and large, bright blue eyes. She wore a tight white unitard that had a large round window on her chest and bared her legs, plus a red cape and thick boots up to her knees.

And, of course, she had huge round breasts on top of her well muscled and toned physique.

Kara felt immediately inadequate when she first laid eyes on her.

It had started less than one hour ago. Clark and her had gone on shopping spree through Metropolis, just to satisfy one of her young girl whims. Clark wouldn't ever say it, but it still was clear he was uncomfortable about it. Lois still didn't seem too accepting of the "cousin Linda" story, after all. And Clark, even if he never outright said it, lived for Lois. Sometimes, it puzzled Kara. She never understood what was so special about her.

The point was, Clark, patiently and without a complain, just like always, had followed her across the City of Tomorrow, carrying her bags, looking as if they really had any weight to him. When Terra-Man showed up, for a second it was as if it was a relief for him.

"Kryptonian!" the gruff, loud shout echoed through the mall, as the tall and robust man in cowboy clothes, holding the futuristic looking handguns, rose from the wreckage of the spot where he had landed after crashing through the ceiling and the two upper stories. "C'mon and die like a man, doggone alien! My detectors told me you're around here, so don't try acting shy, varmint! Or else I'll start shootin' city slickers down!"

Clark's face tightened between the screams of the crowd. The relief was over, quickly replaced by grim determination. Kara knew that expression well by now, as well as the way he gripped the middle of his shirt, ready to pop the buttons off and reveal the huge "S" shield underneath. The next thing she knew, he'd become a blue and red blur, and he'd be out of sight for only a moment, lost between the gasping and distracted masses, just to return just as soon flying in through a window...

Then, even before that could happen, the floor under Terra-Man literally exploded, and a white and red blur flew up, fists first, into the cowboy's jaw. The villain was shot several dozens of feet upwards, disappearing into the heights with the blur going up after him. It was then when Clark vanished.

When the strange new woman arrived back from above, he was there, with his muscular arms folded before his chest, suspended in the air in front of her. The crowds below whistled and cheered in awe, cameras already flashing everywhere. People in Metropolis never left home without a camera. The woman had a groggy Terra-Man grabbed by the collar, with a bleeding nose; Kara's super senses had allowed her to see the other blonde punch the criminal literally hundreds of times at super speed while ascending, all in the span of moments.

As always, Clark was polite but firm, his Superman voice dripping with a regal quality Clark Kent never could display.

"Welcome to Metropolis," he said. "And your name would be, Miss...?"

She flashed a wide, winning, confident, charming smile. One that matched the sheer presence of her appearance. It was simply subjugating, and everyone but Clark, including Kara, found themselves speechless as she spoke, clearly and for everyone to hear:

"I am Power Girl. I have arrived from far, far away to help the heroes and marvels of this age protect this world! Greetings, fair people of Metropolis! Greetings, Superman, greatest of Earth's champions!"

Keeping the smile, she extended a hand over to him. In the briefest of spans, he analyzed the hand with X-Ray and microscopic visions, doing a complete scan of her flesh's properties. No power absorbing capacities like the Parasite's. Instead, Kryptonian genetic makeup combined with human genes. Or rather, the very slightly different Argo DNA structure Kara had, not his own's.

He smiled back and shook her hand. "A real pleasure, Power Girl."

There always was a mystery at hand in the never ending battle.

* * *

**Tuesday:**

On Tuesday, Kerberos felt another Clow Card's presence in the Mahora Elementary's playground. Nodoka headed there that evening, after banal rumors of children seeing a strange card fluttering around them all day long were spread during an otherwise boring school day. Since the card acted completely harmless, either the rumor didn't make it to the magical staff, or they paid it no attention.

Yue followed her armed with a video camera. And a baseball bat. And Chisame's number on speed dial in her cellphone, just in case they needed Negi.

"There it is!" Nodoka cried, pointing behind the huge statue of the Penguin King near the slide rides. She gulped and ran there, with a Create-made butterfly net in her hands, and Yue and Kero in tow. "S-Stop right there, please, Clow Card-san!"

The card was visible once they doubled behind the statue, not in any humanoid or beast form, but as a simple paper rectangle that flew in wide circles. As soon as it noticed Nodoka's arrival, it tried to pirouette out of her reach, but using The Jump, the girl could catch up to it in a single bound, trapping it inside of the net.

"Return to y-your true self, Clow Card!" Nodoka commanded, and the card fell like a dead weight. Breathing in relief at how easy it had been, Nodoka pulled her pen out and wrote her name on the card.

Yue blinked. "Wow. I didn't think such a simple plan would work."

Kero made a 'Tsk' sound. "That was nothing. The weaker cards tend to be the first ones to manifest themselves. The difficult ones, on the other hand, are far better at remaining off the radar. You'll be in for real fights later on!"

"Like the progression of enemies in a manga series?" Yue asked.

"Don't put words in my mouth."

"S-So, what does this one do?" Nodoka looked closely at it. "It only says 'The Card'..."

"It's because that's the Card card," Kero explained.

"Card Card," Yue echoed in dry disbelief.

Kero shrugged. "Master Clow had a strange sense of humor. Anyway, this card does nothing at all."

"Ah?!" Nodoka and Yue chorused.

"Yes, other than being able to trap people inside of copy cards it creates, it just can't do anything," the plush lion completed with a snort.

"Wait, it really can capture living beings into cards? The size of actual playing cards, I mean?" asked Yue.

"That was just what I said, wasn't it?" Kero said. "I'm starting to understand why they call you Baka Black."

"That actually sounds useful in a fight," Yue pondered, not deigning the comment with an answer.

"B-But people can be turned back to normal, can't they?" Nodoka gulped.

"As long as you tell the card to do so, sure thing," Kero nodded.

"I'm not complaining, but then why didn't it ever attack anyone that way?" Yue asked again.

"It's because it is one of the nice and gentle cards, isn't it?" Nodoka started to smile.

"Actually, it's because it is too stupid to do anything it isn't commanded to," Kero clarified. "It's only a card in every sense of the word, after all."

"Ah," Nodoka said, smile fading.

* * *

**Yuuna: Casted Out**

"Wow, Dad, " she whistled as she walked in. "Your house's surprisingly clean and neat! You hired a maid or something?"

"Oh, calling it 'your house' now?" Professor Akashi said, closing the door behind her. "It's yours too, you know. It always will."

"I guess so. It's just I've spent so long away..." the girl sighed, heading for the kitchen. "Well, I think I can make us some dinner before heading back home. I just was passing by from buying some clothes..." she explained while dropping her bags next to the kitchen's door. "Whoa, even the kitchen's squeaky clean! Alright, where are you hiding that woman?"

"I have no woman here!" he tried to laugh it off. In a sense, it was true. But, I had extra free time while everyone was away. So, um, how did your trip go..."

"It was... interesting, " she said, looking through the cupboards to see what she could cook. "I saw a lot of Kyoto, that's for sure."

"Ah..."

After a brief pause, she added, "I visited Konoka's house. It's very big."

He blinked, and she noticed that over her shoulder. As expected, it had elicted a reaction from him. Immediately, she chided herself for saying something like that so impulsively. What if she had compromised everyone's secret? To try and fix it up somewhat, she changed the topic. "W-Well, you're even better supplied than usual!"

"I was expecting you'd come to tell me how did you do at the trip, so I stocked extra..."

"Right, right. What would you like to eat?"

"Oh, nothing fancy. I'll be fine with some tempura and curry."

"Okay! I'll get to work on it!"

There was a whisper in his ear. "Ooohhhh! She is even cuter in person! I like her so much already...!"

Akashi grunted to try and silence her.

"Don't concern yourself, Master, " the disembodied voice whispered. "As long as I'm in this form, only you can hear me. Our private secrets are safe, as long as you don't compromise them yourself."

He nodded stiffly. Yuuna was bending down to pick something she had dropped, and he thought he heard a brief pleased sound from Caster's lips as she eyed the girl's firm and round shorts-clad posterior. Then it dawned on Akashi that, in an unconscious answer to Caster's reaction, he had been looking there as well, and he looked aside uncomfortably. This all was simply stupid.

"Dad?"

"Yes, dear?"

"You... You _could _bring a woman into your life if you wanted, you know, " she said, in a quiet and distant tone. "I've been thinking a lot lately, and I decided you definitely could use that. As long as she's a nice person, of course."

He laughed weakly again. "Yuuna-chan, I'm far too busy to even think of that now..."

"But you still do, " she accused. "You still keep all those porn magazines under your bed, don't you?"

Awkwardly, he cringed. "Yeah."

He had been mortified as hell that time Yuuna had found them while cleaning. And then almost as mortified when Caster recently stumbled upon them. Yuuna had chewed him out back then calling him a perv, but Caster had just read them all with fascination and used them as inspiration for that night's 'recharge session'. Akashi was starting to suspect that much recharging was not necessary.

Either way, the incident made him even more convinced Caster and Yuuna shouldn't meet.

"It's okay, it's a natural need of men, " Yuuna said while preparing the ingredients. "Sorry about being so bitchy that time."

And then he knew he should be worried. "Yuuna-chan, are you okay?"

"Why do you ask? I have to be feeling bad if I decide to be more understanding and mature?"

"N-No, of course not! It's just you are... quiet."

"I had a very active day at the court today, Dad. I'm tired, that's all."

"Oh, then let me help y—"

"No. You still can't cook anything worth a darn. I don't want to spend the night with a stomach ache to boot. Just sit back and relax."

Caster massaged his shoulders from behind with ethereal, ghost like hands and purred. "That is an excellent idea. She is intelligent in addition to being gorgeous..."

Akashi frowned.

No, they definitely shouldn't ever meet.

In that moment, he had fatally tempted fate with just a thought.

* * *

**The Hermit.**

_Mahora City:_

"See you tomorrow, Chihaya-chan!" the twins Ami and Mami waved happily at her as she walked out the studio. Then thin, relatively tall, rather flat chested young woman with the very long dark blue hair waved back at them weakly, before stepping out into the Agency's main hall. There was someone new working there, behind the reception desk, making Chihaya pause in surprise, perhaps more than she should have shown.

"Oh, good evening. We haven't been introduced yet, have we?" asked the slightly older woman, who was strikingly gorgeous, with her fair skin, blue eyes and long blond hair. "I'm sorry. I was hired just today, by Hatoko-sama. My name is Nekane Springfield. And I'm honored to be here, working with you from now on."

Chihaya nodded stiffly. It was typical of the struggling, emerging agency not telling everyone at once when decisions of that kind were made, particularly when the volatile and absent minded Hatoko-sama was deciding things without consulting anyone first. "L-Likewise. My name is Kisaragi Chihaya," she said, as softly as ever.

Chihaya was still reeling from it as she walked to the subway station. Nekane Springfield was there. Nekane Springfield shouldn't have been there at the time. Something was terribly wrong there, she could feel it clearly. The girl sat on a sidewalk bench for a moment to gather her thoughts and ponder her options, which were not many, as usual.

She lifted her gaze, looking at the beautiful twilight sky, so unlike the harsh blood skies from her home. This was such a peaceful, pleasant world (warts and all), it almost broke her heart, thinking about... it.

But she stood back up quickly and continued walking. There was no point on dwelling on it.

She stopped again before a music store's window. Her eyes grew very round at the sight of a CD in particular. Fast and noticeably nervous, she wanted in and asked the clerk, a pimply young foreigner, how much was it.

"Oh, that?" he asked back. "Dirt cheap. It's just a promo single from a local band. Strictly experimental stuff. The kind of thing schoolgirls throw together during their festivals just to see what happens. You sure you don't wanna the newest from Afternoon Tea Time? We got it yesterday, you know."

"No. I want that one," she insisted, her tone flat but firm.

A hour later, at the lonely apartment, sitting at a corner of her bedroom's floor, she played the single again. The music flowing into her through the headphones gave her heart yet another blow.

She blocked the other voices out, focusing only on the melodic one she had not heard in years. The voice that had sung for her so many times, back then. Only this time, her tone was not melancholic and sweet, but cheerful and wildly energetic. Chihaya did not care. It still was _her_voice, and that was all what mattered.

"Mother..."

Other than that whispered word, Chihaya suffered in absolute silence.

* * *

**The High Priestess:**

"In other news," televisions were announcing all over Munich, "German premier Gerhard von Faust confirmed today his engagement to genius robotic researcher Doctor Lorelei Geitlin. Dr. Geitlin, best known for her adamant opposition to America's Sentinel program, is probably today's most advanced developer in the field of artificial intelligence. The announcement comes as a surprise to few, after recent-"

"Well," Dr. Lorelei said evenly, as best as she could with a hand wrapped around her throat. "I don't know why are you so furious at me. Your debut got top billing in the evening news over my engagement."

"How could you?" Power Girl snarled on her face, holding her out the balcony and high above the streets below.

"Well, how can you do this?" Lorelei asked back. "Isn't this the kind of thing a fledging superheroine never wants to be caught doing?" Seventy stories of freefall, and she didn't have feet-installed jets like her mother. She had lost those feet, not to mention her mother, in, ironically, a Super Sentinel raid all those years ago. Or all those years ahead. Good to see her luck still held up, eh?

"Before entering, I found all your digital filming links across and around the place, and burned them off with telescopic heat vision. Nice attempt trying to shield them with lead and magic. It would all have worked with Uncle Kal, but I still could hear the pulses, and for the magic, well... you know. Just as you must know about Faust's plans. And the kind of man he is!"

"Of course I do. He's a lonely, sad, broken man who led an extremely painful childhood and worked very hard to get where he is now. Not all of us were born lucky enough to do anything we wanted. And I'd ask you how you found me, but I believe I just answered my own question, in a way..."

"I just had to keep an ear out for an unique kind of heartbeat," the much bustier woman said.

"All over the planet?"

"I had time."

"As we all did. I guess you have more than the average of us, however, being able to use it at super speed. If you are so angry at Faust, why aren't you holding him out his window instead?"

She brought her back into the apartment, but still didn't lower her. "I came here to prevent a third World War, not to trigger it."

"What a coincidence. Me too. But you only have answered half of my question. How did you know I was in this period in the first place?"

"I was told. That's alll you need to know."

Now she lowered her, with actual care of not hurting her. The woman with the long orange hair fixed her collar up. "Thank you. It's funny, in a way. I never imagined meeting my sister would be like this."

"I'm not your sister."

"Oh? Would you rather say you are what I would have been if Father had married your mother instead of mine?"

"My parents never married."

Lorelei smiled sadly. "A pity. I was hoping you could show me pictures of what's a Kryptonian wedding like. I always had that curiosity. That is an advantage I have over you, at least. I guess. But you know, we should at the very least trying to compare notes, to see if our goals are as mutually exclusive as it'd seem at first glance. We both want to prevent our apocalypses from ever taking place..."

"You're wrong again," Power Girl told her. "In my world, there never was an apocalypse. Do you see now why my vision must prevail over yours?"

"What about Father?"

"He died young, but it was to guarantee a safe future for us all. I won't stand for you to ruin everything he sacrificed himself for."

Lorelei sighed. "Forget it. You should know I can't allow that, more than you can allow me... Look, if you're so adamant about it, and you're so powerful and unstoppable, and you think I'm such a danger, and your vision is right, obliterate me at once, will you? My mission is all I have left to live for. Without it, there's no point. Make it look like an accident. For you, it'd be easy. That, of course, if you are so sure of..."

"That isn't what my parents taught me. And I'm sure yours didn't either."

"Oh? And then, were you just bluffing with the window?" she sounded completely unsurprised.

Power Girl smiled. "My favorite uncle's favorite questioning tactic."

They looked at each other's eyes.

"I'll be watching," Power Girl promised, starting to rise slowly into the ir from the balcony.

"You know that, by preventing my timeline, you're sentencing me to blink out of existence, don't you?" Lorelei asked her, "You're still going against what your parents taught you."

"No. They taught me there's always a way to save everyone, except maybe yourself. I only have to find it."

And she zoomed up, up and away, becoming a twinkle in the sky.

Lorelei sighed and let herself fall sitting on her favorite couch. Soft mewlings abounded around her feet. She reached down and petted the head of one of her dozens of cats.

"What's your opinion, Evangeline? Should I trust her? Should I go with what Mom and Dad taught me, too, or should I go with what life taught me instead?"

After a long brooding silence, she grabbed a cellphone. And he made a call. Talking in a tired, regretful, mirthless voice.

"It's me. Get me Metallo."

* * *

**Wednesday:**

That Wednesday, the cosmic tyrant known as Thanos the Mad Titan gained control over the last of the six Infinity Gems (Mind, Reality, Power, Space, Soul and Time) and assembled them into his right armored gauntlet, which he unimaginatively dubbed the Infinity Gauntlet. To impress Death itself, with whom he was madly in love, he snapped his fingers and destroyed half of the universe's population, including everyone in Mahora Academy. The surviving heroes of the universe gathered to fight Thanos, but he massacred them all, save for three. As Jack Rakan gave him a wedgie, Doctor Stephen Strange (the Sorcerer Supreme) and Adam Warlock snatched the Gauntlet away from Thanos. Death, being a rather nice girl but also having her limits, finally had enough of Thanos' DEEP LOVE and his attempts to commit genocide in her name, and turned him into stone forever, or at the very least until the next cosmic crossover. The universe was fully restored, with no one else retaining any memories of what had happened.

That night, Negi, Chisame, Satomi, Matoi and Chamo went to have dinner at the Chao Bao Zi, somehow especially glad to be alive, although they couldn't figure exactly why.

* * *

**Middle Ground**

Skuld and Natsuki stared at each other over the table, aggressively and intensely enough to move most other customers to pay in a hurry and leave.

Finally, one of them shouted.

"Ice-cream!"

"Mayonnaise!"

"Ice-cream!"

"Mayonnaise!"

"Ice-cream!"

"Mayonnaise!"

"Ice-cream!"

"Mayonnaise!"

Satsuki sighed, grabbed a pot of mayonnaise, a jar of milk, and began to work again...

"You can't even start to say ice-cream is a better flavor than mayonnaise, because for starters, ice-cream doesn't come in a single flavor!" Natsuki argued.

"So what? All of its flavors are better than mayonnaise!" Skuld shot back.

"You're delirious! Mayonnaise tastes better and fills more than ice-cream, which is only for babies anyway!"

"Who are you calling a baby?-!"

"Who do you think, you whiny crybaby?-!"

Then Satsuki set two large cups between them. "Here."

Natsuki sniffed at her cup. "W-What... What is this I don't even-"

Skuld did likewise. "Mayonnaise ice-cream? Seriously? But this can't even be edible...!"

The polite but firm glare Satsuki gave them moved them to eat immediately.

And then, sheer bliss.

"This... This is the best thing I've ever tasted...!"

"Ahhhhhh, I've died and gone back to Heaven...!"

From a nearby table, Fujino Shizuru cooed to herself and began taking pictures of the wide eyed, starry eyed, Super Deformed-cute Natsuki eating quickly.

From another table, Chisame snorted. "Weirdos."

Negi laughed weakly. "Oh, Chisame-san...!"

Standard punchline setting pause.

"One for each one of us too, please," Chisame called out.

* * *

**Asuna: Follow your Heart**

"Like I could ever like a brat, " Asuna told herself. "I mean, yeah, I admit liking him as a pal of sorts, even though he bothers me so much with all those tests and homework. Because you can't deny he has a lot of guts, and yeah, if he ever gets his act together, maybe he'll make Chisame or some other girl a happy nagging wife someday. But my type? Hah! Not even when he grows up, I think. I don't like any grown man, I like them fairly older than me, and more so, distinguished. Negi may be formal and stuff, but he isn't distinguished the way Takahata-sensei or the Elder are."

"You're talking about my dad, you know, " a sleepy Konoka quietly interjected from the bunk below, with a smuggled in Ryo-Ohki asleep on her chest.

"I'm just putting him as an example, " Asuna made clear.

"Ah."

"Anyway, I'll never forgive Negi for stealing my first kiss!"

"Wasn't that something you agreed on, Asuna? Something you did to save your own life, too?"

"If he's so smart, why couldn't he think of any alternatives? I'm a Baka Ranger, I couldn't be expected to come up with anything myself! But he should have!"

"Well, I'm glad to be his partner, " Konoka fondly said. "I prefer him over any of those old guys I meet in my omiais."

Asuna frowned and kept on staring at the ceiling.

"Konoka-chan, " she finally said.

Her best (admitted) friend stirred from the sleep she had just entered. "Yeah, Asuna?"

"Who do you like best, Setsuna-san or Negi?"

"Why, that's a very private question, but since it's Asuna-chan, I'll answer it, " she giggled. "I like Setchan best because she's been at my side almost my whole life."

"Yeah, but... Well, you know..."

"I like Setchan best, then Daddy, then Asuna-chan, then Negi-kun!"

"V-Very funny, Konoka. Har har, " she mumbled, not noticing the faint pink washing over and around her own nose bridge.

"And then there's Yomi-chan, " Konoka sighed.

"What?-! C'mon, now that isn't even a joke. That psycho kidnapped you and tried to kill Setsuna, the girl you just said you love above everyone else. Remember?"

"I know, " and now her voice sounded sad, which was so rare in her, it made **Asuna **take notice. "Still, I can't help it. Whenever I think of her, I only can think of that sweet crazy girl who played with us. And how she always smiled, but her smile was shallow and sad. The three of us once meant so much for each other, Asuna. In a perfect world, Yomi-chan would come back to her senses, and we'd be happy together, as if nothing happened, the way we used to be. But I know that'll never happen."

"Konoka-chan, I... I..."

"Good night, Asuna-chan."

The next morning, Asuna noticed Konoka's slightly reddened eyes during breakfast, but didn't dare to comment on them.

* * *

**Thursday:**

That Thursday, Kerberos felt another Clow Card, this time at Haruna's drawing studio.

"I can feel her wicked presence!" he cried. "No doubt, she was attracted by the twisted and corrupted nature of this place!"

"That way!" Nodoka pointed at one of the shadows of the studio, which slithered around encircling them, until something long, thin, slimy and snake-like sprouted up from it. Nodoka and Yue's faces became green. Haruna's turned red, although out of excitement rather than any shame.

"It can't be! Way cool! One of these in my own workplace! I have been blessed! I never dreamed I'd see this day!" Saotome gushed, hopping in place. Boing, boing, boing, she Gainaxed.

"What the hell's wrong with you!" Yue cried, turning the video camera off in disgust.

"It's The Tentacle! Created by Master Clow after a wild drunken night at a seedy movie theater!" Kero warned. "Watch your backs! Uh, and since you're all girls, your fronts too!"

The Tentacle was not that tall, being barely shorter than Yue herself, but moved very fast, as Nodoka learned firsthand when it whipped ahead to lash at her, making her shriek as it ripped the front of her skirt, exposing the modest panties underneath. Kero flew in and bit The Tentacle to protect his mistress, making it back away before it could really harm her. However, it bashed the plushie aside, and he'd have crashed against a wall if Haruna hadn't drawn a Pactio-created cushion to intercept him right on time.

"Keee, ke ke ke ke!" Paru cackled madly, stepping protectively between the card and her friends. "What a cute thing, I want to keep it! But you came to the wrong place, sweetie! You're out of your league against the sexy Speed Grapher-sama!"

Then a voice said "Stop! Before you hurt yourselves!"

Kero, Nodoka, Yue, Haruna and The Tentacle looked aside to see a tall, androgynous and strangely attractive figure stood on a large open window's frame, with a gloved hand cockily supported on a hip, and the other one holding ... a black rose. The stranger wore a white suit and top hat, not to mention a garish mask covering most of his or her face.

"Summoned here by the sensation of a great injustice!" he or she yelled dramatically. "Bathed by the moonlight, a new defender of the helpless arrives! A messenger of good will, the Black Rose Baron! I - KYAAA!"

Making a slurping sound, The Tentacle leaped onto the newcomer before the sentence could be finished properly. A rather girlish shriek had ensued, but Speed Grapher drew a set of giant hands to catch the Baron in mid-fall and pull him or her back in, the fast moving Tentacle still attached to him or her, fondling all over his or her body.

"AAAHHH! TAKE IT OFF! TAKE IT OFF!" the vigilante yelled, although to the weirdo's credit, he or she now was whacking at the creature with a cane, and hard.

Haruna drew a set of pincers to yank the maniacal tentacle off the Baron's pants, since it had just stuck to his or her lower backside, making vague chuckling sounds. However, it had been grabbing so firmly that parts of the pants and the underwear beneath them were ripped off along with it, uncovering a pair of shapely pale buttocks.

"YAAAAAHHHHH!"

"Oooops!" Haruna stuck the tip of her tongue out. "Sorry!" she lied.

Sick of it all already, Yue swung her baseball bat down on The Tentacle and began pummeling it with efficient but relentless brutality. Haruna cringed, and Nodoka looked positively ill. The Black Rose Baron paused in his/her task of making a makeshift skirt with a curtain to shudder as well.

Once the brutal bludgeoning was over at last, Yue calmly gestured for Nodoka towards the splattered tentacle. "All yours, Nodoka. I'm sorry you had to see that."

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes, thank you, Yue-Yue," Nodoka gulped warily, at then tapped her staff on the mangled card as gently as she could, with her staff. "P-Plese return to your natural form, Card-san."

The Tentacle returned to being a simple looking card, which flew into Yue's hands. Yue grunted and pushed it back. But it flew back to her, slamming itself against her flat chest. "Nodoka, Kero-san!" she called out.

Kero cleared his throat and lectured, "The Card will always submit itself to the person who had the biggest part in its defeat. Besides, The Tentacle is one of the most perverted cards of them all, and so it likes being mistreated and abused."

"Away, lascivious card!" Yue pushed it back again. "What use could I have for something like you?"

"You kidding?" Haruna asked. "It has a million of practical uses! Why, you even could use it to start your own harem!"

"I'll never have a harem!" Yue screamed, pushing the card into Nodoka's left hand and holding it there. "Quick, write your name on it and claim it!"

"... do I have to?" she asked.

"YES!"

An intimidated Nodoka obeyed. As she did so, the card finally calmed down, and she added it to her deck, sweatdropping. "Master Clow must have been a ... very eccentric man." Then she remembered something. "Oh! By the way, Black Rose Baron-sama, sir, thank you very much for -!"

"She's gone," Haruna told her. "I wonder if Batman-sama gives classes on this to new masked vigilantes, or something ..."

A lot of blocks away, at the other side of Mahora City, more than our hour after, Nekane Springfield sneaked into her new apartment, slammed the window closed behind her, and fell face-first onto her bed.

"I'd bet this sort of thing never happens to that Tuxedo Kamen fellow," she grunted.

* * *

******Cocone: The Fear. **

"Shouldn't you be with your friend?" the man asked her, seeing her sweep the church's front entrance all alone.

"Shouldn't you be elsewhere?" the kid asked, with rather heavy bluntness despite her quiet, unassuming tone. "I heard you were an Atheist."

He made a slight disapproving sound with his tongue. Modern children. "I came to visit Father Kotomine. While we may disagree on the principles of his doctrine, I have found we happen to share several viewpoints on the world in general."

"That's good. He's inside, but talking in private with Sister Yukariko."

"I'll wait."

She only made the vaguest of all shoulder shrugs.

After a while, he idly asked, "Weren't you two always together? Every time I passed here on my way back home, I saw you two playing, but lately, not so much."

"She is... running errands."

"I see. Well, taking serious tasks is an important part of growing up."

Cocone only nodded.

Finally, despite herself, she found herself saying, "She needs to grow up."

"And you should find yourself friends your own age anyway, " he mused.

Well knowing there were not any others of her age working at the Church.

Often, a simple and short look at the physical features told a whole world about that person's insecurities. Dark skin in a Japanese environment meant she was most likely seen as an alien element by her peers to some degree or another. Probably an outcast by her own will, judging from how silent and introverted she was.

Only one actual known friend, not her age, who wasn't there anymore for her. Doing big girl things out now. In the age to think of boys, not about child friends anymore.

The diagnose was a fear of loneliness.

And often, only the simplest short words, innocent, innocuous words, were enought to kickstart the most fascinating of processes.

The young adult nun with the milky skin and the worried eyes walked out of the church then, bowing polite and nervously. She had all the signs of awkwardness about her, probably a result of being afraid and undecided about her path in life. The things he had overheard Ishigami saying about her had helped him on reaching that conclusion, as well.

"Oh! Oh, good evening, Professor—"

He bowed back, with cold confidence. "Good evening to you as well, Ma'am. Ishigami-sensei sent you his regards."

The ephemeral faint blush was only confirmation. "Ah! I see, that's very kind from him. Send him my best wishes as well..."

Cocone kept on sweeping even after Rance-sensei walked in for his meeting with the Father, even after Sister Caren left, even after the entrance was spotless.

She kept on waiting for Misora's return.

Alone.

Never afraid of anything that could happen to her while being alone, but of being alone on itself.

* * *

**Source of Income**. (Adapted from a Colonel Aki 4-Koma).

"Hey, want an apple?" Sakura Kyoko offered her one.

Miki Sayaka looked dubiously at the huge bag of apples Kyoko was carrying, and she huffed. "From where did you get enough money to buy all that? I know your family is still going under finance troubles! Don't tell me you did something... underhanded!"

Yuuki Nao passed by next to them absently sending cellphone messages.

Kyoko frowned. "What are you talking about? I earned my money through perfectly legal means!"

"Such as?" Sayaka pressed on.

"The Chao Bao Zi's 'Finish It All in 30 Minutes or Less' Ramen Extravaganza Challenge!"

"Ah?" Sayaka blinked.

The redhead continued, "The '10,000 Yen-Prize All Star Curry Buffet Contest'! You have no idea how hard it was, beating that crazy Excel girl!"

"No, seriously, what-"

"The 'Survive Three Bowls of Tendo Akane's Cooking' Ultimate Challenge! They had it in Extreme TV, you know!" Kyoko proclaimed.

The blue haired girl postrated herself before her. "Say no more! Sorry I ever doubted you at all!"

* * *

**Friday:**

The next day, Friday, Negi, Chisame, Matoi, Chamo and Satomi were gathered at Negi's room after classes, with Nodoka, Kero and Haruna telling them in length about the events of the previous night.

"... and t-that's what happened!" Nodoka finished. "He simply disappeared as if he had never been there!"

"She, not he," Haruna corrected.

"But he introduced himself as a Baron," Nodoka said.

Haruna pulled a piece of ripped lingerie out of one of her pockets. It was pink. "This is what The Tentacle ripped from her buttocks. Doesn't look too manly to me!"

Chisame snorted. "A weirdo like that might wear panties under his pants, for all we know."

"True," Haruna allowed. "However -" And she took a deep sniff of the piece, creeping Nodoka, Negi, Chisame and Kero out. "- the sweet smell of femalehood cannot be denied! Back me up here, Chamo-kun!" she said, passing the cloth to the ermine.

After sniffing as well, Chamo grinned dreamily. "Sooooo nice ... why, it smells exactly like Nekane-Oneechan's undies!"

Negi's face suddenly became a whole lot scarier than usual. "Now that isn't funny at all, Chamo-kun."

"B-But I'm not joking!" he claimed. A second later, the even harsher glare Negi shot him made him regret saying that. "What I mean is, it was an accident! There was this huge hawk hunting me, and I just had to hide in the clothes she was going to wash!"

Negi, being Negi, bought the excuse immediately, and even blushed. "Oh! Oh, I'm sorry I doubted you, Chamo-kun!"

"It's okay," the animal waved a paw magnanimously. "You're still young and prone to lapses in judgment. That's why you need me around, after all!"

Chisame grunted. "Since Negi's big sister is still in Wales, however, what if we focus on more relevant things anyway? What kind of wacko would dress like a gay Tuxedo Kamen knockoff and go prowl the night? I'll look into recent police reports. Maybe some adrenaline junkie nutjob escaped a lunatic asylum recently or something like that."

"He looked like a nice person," Nodoka mused, still refusing to believe that had been a woman. He was almost as elegant and elegantly manly as Negi-sensei, with the airs of a classic dandy gentleman. "And he had such a cultured foreign accent, too. Somewhat similar to yours, Negi-sensei."

"So, it's another Welshman?" Matoi hummed, massaging Chisame's tense shoulders from behind. "What are the odds? On the other hand, that'd explain why he kind of smells like Negi-sensei's sister. Maybe they use similar Welsh scents. If she's a woman, it makes much more sense she'd use female cologne."

"It wasn't cologne, it was the natural smell of a joyous youthful body!" Chamo then refuted the report.

Negi tensed up now. "Wait! Smells like Sister, a family member ... goes around the world helping others ... noble looking, tall and charming ... w-what if that's my ... that's my father?!"

"Wasn't your father an expert mage?" Haruna asked. "The person we met wasn't what I'd call a powerhouse. Besides, I'm still convinced she's a girl."

"Well," Chisame coughed, "from what we've seen in Eva's memories, Negi's dad was a bumbling fool at times. But I don't think he'd be enough of a dick to wander around Mahora without letting his dear son know he's still alive."

"I suppose you're right." Negi deflated.

A general paused ensued now.

"Can I sniff the piece of underwear again?" Chamo begged. "Just to see if I can, ah, establish a trail or something!"

* * *

**Shizuna: The Unremarkable**

"So, " Arai Chie-sensei asked her over a cup of coffee after work hours, "How did you enjoy your class trip? Could you finally relax like you wanted to?"

Minamoto-sensei grunted.

"I see, " Chie-sensei said.

"It wasn't like it was taxing. Actually, it had to be the most boring and bland trip we ever had, " Shizuna said. "It was so boring, as a matter of fact, most of the children spent most of the last day asleep."

Chie raised a thin black eyebrow. "Are you sure they weren't tired after too much excitement instead?"

"No. It was only the usual happenings. You know, spin the bottle games that ended up in disaster, Nitta-sensei yelling at them at all times, mobbing Negi-sensei... The same things that always happen everywhere. And nothing else."

"Well, it can't be helped. What you need is a trip of your own, where you can meet interesting people our age without having to worry about the children."

"I don't think I'll be able to do that for the foreseeable future. My finances are at a low point, as well."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe you could do what I do to earn some extra money? It's a bit shameful, and not the kind of thing a teacher should be caught doing, but... it pays remarkably well..."

Shizuna blushed and looked at her with very wide eyes. "Wh-What..."

Chie looked at her wristwatch. "Talking about that, I'm about to have my session for tonight. Want to come with me? I could teach you how to pull off a duo..."

"A-Arai-sensei!"

"Don't be scandalized! Live a little and loosen up. I know only young people uses to do _that_, but I still feel in shape for it. With no false humility, I'll say my hand-work is simply remarkable..."

Shizuna gulped. "Really?"

"Really. The kids love seeing it..."

"W-With minors?-!"

"Well, I'll admit they shouldn't even be out that late to begin with, but that's their parents' fault, that's my motto."

"B-But what if we're caught doing it?"

"Well, it's against the regulations, but the Dean always forgives me when I'm caught doing it. He says that, as long as we aren't hurting anyone, it's fine."

"The Dean approves that?-!"

"Sure thing. Sometimes we do it together, too. He is quite spry for his age, and has excellent reactions."

Shizuna fanned herself with a hand. "That... That, I've got to see it..."

_Later:_

_Mahora Game Center._

Shizuna groaned to herself as she mechanically tapped at the buttons of her side of the Arcade machine, while next to her, Chie blasted enemy ships at left and right like... a pro. A crowd of amazed youngsters surrounded them, gasping at Chie's impossibly high scores.

"See?" Chie told her at some point. "I make a killing every night with the bets! And like I said, the youngsters love me!"

"... I'm starting to understand why you haven't married either..."

* * *

**Saturday:**

That Saturday, Skuld stomped into Suzushiro Haruka's Student Council office with the overwhelming force of Thor's carriage, protesting at the top of her lungs. "Miss Vice President! Miss Vice President! This is an outrage! You must take measures on it immediately! People need to be punished, preferably in ways involving lakes of eternal fire!"

From the corner where he was sitting at going over Yukino's old tasks, her default replacement, student council assistant Tate Yuiichi, couldn't help but cringe. Some rather bitter experiences on handling hot tempered women, however, prompted him to stay silent.

Haruka lifted a tired but still firm glare from the budgets she had been checking. "What. Is. It."

Skuld dumped a thick, heavy stack of envelopes she had bound together on Suzushiro's already overloaded desk. "THIS! IS! IT! For the last five days, my locker has been stuffed with this obnoxious junk! I demand that you do something about it!"

Haruka picked one of the envelopes at random, ripped it open, and read its contents carelessly. "My hearty pumps madly whenever I see you ..."

Skuld's cheeks grew crimson. "It's a huge offense! It's sexual harassment, that's what it is! I'm being stalked just because of my good looks and alluring intelligence! I demand protection!"

Calmly, Haruka unlocked a cabinet under her desk, pulled an even taller and thicker bundle of older, slightly yellowed envelopes, and dumped them before Skuld's. "See these? I got them when I joined this Academy and I was even younger than you at the time. I agree it's annoying and immoral, but it happens all the time. It can't be stopped. Believe me, I've tried. Several times. Hard. Girls tend to get them right after enrolling, while they're still a novelty. They'll stop coming when another pretty girl joins in."

Skuld blinked. "Th-That's it? Aren't you Suzushiro Haruka, the Rules Devil of Mahora? Aren't you going to do anything?"

"I am doing something. Something far more important, as a matter of fact." The busty blonde returned obsessively to what she had been doing. "An honor student of ours disvanished without a trace during her class trip, and I'm setting a budget for a search campaign. Mahora won't abandon one of their own! We'll make lots of missing child announcements all over Japan, until ... until ... until Yukino-chan is found safe and sound!" she finally cried.

"You say either 'disappeared' or 'vanished'," Tate stoically supplied.

Skuld looked on curiously as Haruka mumbled bitterly, returning to loom hunchbacked over her workload.

"Kikukawa Yukino?" the young Norn finally asked.

Haruka nodded curtly, before she visibly realized something and lifted her scary gaze to meet hers. "Do you know about her?" The idea had finally snapped to life in her mind. If that girl was a real goddess, as she had claimed during the Kyoto trip, not that Haruka could be really sure she was despite everything, then she -

Skuld rasped uneasily, subtly looking in the direction of the oblivious, bored Tate. Haruka caught on and Skuld faked a laugh. "Of course not! A normal student wouldn't know anything about it, don't you think? I happened to hear about the case! She was your friend, wasn't she? I'm sorry about your loss; even if I'm sure it's a temporary one!"

Haruka nodded formally. "Thank you. Tate-kun, would you be kind enough as to go bring snacks for Odinson-san?"

He got up with his hands in his pockets. "On it," he droned, gladly taking the chance to walk out.

Once they were alone, Haruka grabbed Skuld by the lapels of her uniform's jacket. "Talk," the blonde snarled.

"Your friend and the students who disappeared with her were transported to Mundus Magicus, the parallel world Chao Lingshen hails from," Skuld whispered. ""They were summoned by Princess Emeraude from the Cephiro continent to help her avert the upcoming crisis threatening that world's continued existence."

"YUKINO-CHAN?!" Haruka gasped, appalled. "B-But she isn't strong or able! She's depended on me since we were children! That's insane! We have to bring her back!"

"Well ..." Skuld said, obviously not wanting to add anything to tantalize Haruka.

Haruka only shook her vigorously. "You're a goddess, aren't you, dammit! What do I need to do to get you do it? Pray to you for the rest of my life? Build you a shrine? Start your church? Sacrifice cows on an altar? You name the price and I'll meet it! Except for a human sacrifice. Unless Fujino will suffice," she quickly amended.

Skuld smiled roguishly. "Oh, yeah?"

"YES!" Haruka nodded.

"I'd need to calibrate a few parameters of search first, so give me a week," Skuld said. "I make no guarantees, but there's a fair chance I might locate her exact current position by then."

"A WHOLE WEEK?! In a strange fantasy world?! By then, a delicate flower like her could be devuo - devoud - eaten by a dragon! Killed by hobgoblins! Sold as a slave! Who knows what else!" She shuddered, biting her finger nails so hard shards of them flew everywhere. Even at that, she was a scene-chewing ham.

"It's the best I could do trapped in this backwater world," Skuld shrugged. "Don't you worry. She's with people who know how to defend themselves. What's the worst that could happen to them?"

* * *

**Kaede: Introspection**

_Often, to find yourself, you need to be alone._

_I love Fumika-dono and Fuuka-dono dearly, I do. However, they aren't that good at helping anyone with enlightenment. That's why I scurry out while they sleep, to sit out, alone in the night, looking at the stars._

_I can't deny it feels well, in a different way than their company. One such as me must appreciate quiet and peace whenever it is available._

_Maybe I will come to lead an actual kunoichi's life, one fraught with nothing but deceipt, blood and an early demise. Or maybe, like my parents hoped, I will live the existence of a normal modern girl. I would marry a hopefully good man and become a housewife, since let's face it, I'm not the career woman type unless that career involves ninjutsu and espionage._

_I'm fine with either option, actually. Happiness doesn't depend on hoping your single selected path comes true, but on being able to adapt and find joy whenever you can get it. You must be like the river, flowing and changing your course until you eventually reach the sea._

_I close my eyes and enjoy the cold breeze on my face. Find solace in the present. Live each day by itself. It is a cliche, and maybe it is wrong to some degree, especially for those who must plan everything ahead, like Negi-sensei. But it is the way I've chosen to live. The only one I can actually follow. I suppose I'm simple minded like that, but it can't be helped._

_I'm just a dumb ninja retainer, but don't get me wrong, I'll never hate myself for it. No one ever should hate themselves for being what they are, unless there is evil in their hearts._

_That's a lesson several of my classmates and my teacher will have to learn by themselves, I'm afraid. I'm not good at teaching at all, as Fuuka-dono and Fumika-dono can testify. Testify is the right word for that, isn't it?_

_It is almost the time when Fumika-dono gets up to use the bathroom, by the way. I should head back now before they notice my absence. I have had enough me time for a night._

_However, I still haven't managed to clean my mind of its biggest stain yet, much to my shame._

_Because I'm still wondering what's that stupid priestess doing right now._

* * *

**Sunday:**

Very early that Sunday morning, Negi, Chisame, Satomi, Chamo, Haruka, Matoi and Ayaka headed over to Evangeline's cottage to submit a petition.

"And you want me to keep training you," Evangeline summed up after it was clear Negi wouldn't get past the pandering, praising stages anytime soon. She spoke with disdain, not bothering to get up from her bed, in bunny pajamas and with her legs crossed lazily. She rubbed her nose, since her allergies were killing her.

"Well, please remember everything Skuld-san told us," Negi reminded her. "A global crisis might be approaching, and we need to be ready for anything. All of us!"

After a loud sneeze, Eva laughed, cold and evil. "Why should I care of the world ends? No matter how big the catastrophe may be, it couldn't destroy me! I will outlive mankind and whatever race comes next!"

"Dammit, that goes well past the callous," Chisame said.

"I don't care! I'm evil! Perverse! Selfish and cruel!" Eva barked.

Haruka stood up. "For shame, Mc Dowell-san! Weren't you human once, too? Are you going to become a betreacherous to our species? You claim to be unable to kill women or children, yet you'd wash your hands clean of oceans of their blood just to satisfy your negligence?"

"Yes. Yes, I would," Evangeline yawned. "By the way, the correct word there is 'betrayer'. Or 'traitor'. Next question?"

"However," Satomi pointed out, "Wouldn't it be in your own best selfish interests to help us become a powerful militant fighting force, like Erebus-sensei's class? What I intend to express is, based on the knowledge we have, you need either Negi-sensei's blood or his increased magical skill applied to the task of breaking your current imprisonment, or all your efforts and hopes to date would be thwarted, should he perish with the rest of mankind."

"That ... that is no problem!" Eva snapped. "If Nagi is truly alive, his spell will be broken as soon as he dies!"

"Are you sure of it, Master?" Chachamaru asked from where she stood in her maid outfit next to Evangeline's bed. "Until recent events, you had always operated under the assumption the Thousand Master was dead, and yet you never questioned the barrier's continued existence."

"I don't remember asking for your worthless opinion!" the vampiress seethed. "Besides, that Erebus boya couldn't find a solution for that other vampire despite becoming as powerful as Nagi himself!"

"He's only one year older than Negi-sensei," Ayaka argued. "I'm sure they can eventually find something that can help you!"

"And besides, you couldn't have your long wanted personal revenge on Nagi if he died before you could find him, could you?" Chisame questioned.

"Ah ..." Evangeline said.

Chachamaru spoke once more, "Furthermore, if mankind is destroyed forever, who will sate your thirst, Master? And think of the kittens!"

"It's a conspiracy!" Eva cried. "You can't force and blackmail me into being moral! Don't you have any ethics?"

She huffed and puffed in place, tightening her fists at her sides before running a hand down her face. "Okay. Fine, I got it. I'll tell you what, Boya. One week. I'll give you one week to prepare to pass a test I'll give you. If you manage to do that, I'll train you and your pesky band of brats. If not, don't bother me again. Okay?"

Negi nodded eagerly. "Okay! What is the test about?"

"I'll tell you in two more days."

"Then how can I prepare myself until then?"

"Use those days to get ready for anything," Eva simply said.

"You still haven't thought of a good test to give him, have you?" Matoi droned.

"Shut up, you creepy stalker!"

"HAH!" Ayaka smiled smugly. "Negi-sensei will pass with flying honors, no matter what it is!"

"Don't needle her, moron!" Chisame whispered into her ear, angrily. "You'll make her give him an even harder test!"

"Listen to your field commander, Yukihiro Ayaka," Eva said blandly, making Chisame cringe.

Ayaka, on the other hand, tensed up in shock. "F-Fuh-Field Commander?! Hasegawa-san?!" the Class Rep babbled.

"Who decided that, and when?" Haruka frowned.

"The primary partner, when there are several Ministra, is usually the one to take the field control under the Magister," Eva folded her arms behind her neck and lay on her back, kicking her bare feet playfully. "Hakase and Tsunetsuki already accepted those conditions."

"Oh, like they would say otherwise!" Ayaka said. "I'm a born leader with experience!"

"You are only a Class Representative, Yukihiro-san!" Haruka intervened. "Being used to a much higher position, it's just logical I should have command priority over you!"

"You didn't even get enough votes to net a Class Representation!" Ayaka accused. "You only got your post because no one else wanted to run against Fujino-san!"

"The fact I was the only one with the courage and morals to run against the vile Bubuzuke Woman only farther proves my point!"

"Further," Matoi supplied.

"Don't fight, don't fight!" Negi tried to break the looming physical conflict.

Eva gave a small cute yawn. "Stop it now, you two. If Boya gets my approval, I'll stage a contest to see who's the best choice for his lieutenant. Understood?"

Both blondes still stared poisonously at each other before looking in opposite directions.

"Fine with me," Ayaka said. "There's nothing she can do that I can't do better."

"Hm!" Haruka replied. "A sure sign of a delusional mind if I ever saw one!"

"For starters, I actually have a grasp on the Japanese language!"

"My Japanese is flawless! I only have the occasional stress induced slip!"

"Someone who stresses so much wouldn't make for a good leader!"

"Girls! You heard her!" Negi suddenly grew serious. "Save your energy for when it can actually be put to good use!"

"... Yes, Negi-sensei," they reluctantly chorused.

"... I'm not interested in the job, really, I'm not ..." Chisame said weakly, going completely unheard.

* * *

**World's Finest**

While it still was early morning at Mahora, it was night at Metropolis.

He swooped down on the top of the Daily Planet building, on top of the giant globe on it, even. The bat was waiting for him there, turning off the device in his right hand.

"What took you so long?" the Dark Knight asked.

"I had to take care of an alien scout ship before they could approach critical range," the Man of Steel said. "For some reason, they have been coming one after another lately, but whenever I try to question them, they just deploy thrusters I can't catch up to and escape. It's getting honestly frustrating."

"Thrusters you can't catch up to?"

"I have my limits, just like anyone. No luck with the Joker yet?"

"While in Japan, you could say I almost had him, just like you with your spaceships. It might be related to the matter that brought me here, actually. I heard some ... worrying news while I was there. It may be that the person who told me was lying, to some degree or another, but you can never be too careful."

"I'm listening."

"You were raised in religious middle America. What would you say if I told you Heaven might be about to wage War on Earth?"

"Probably I'd react the same way I did when told about the world devouring alien god five years ago."

"Hnh," Batman grunted. "We learned nothing from the Gah Lak Tus incident. This time, we should assemble a team of specialists to deal with it. Remember fifteen years ago?"

"The covered up crisis? Yeah, I wasn't even in costume back then, but I heard it from the other side of the world. I flew there, but ... magic. The biggest concentration of magic I've ever ran into, and considering it was my first encounter with magic, it knocked me down badly. I spent five days floating around the Antarctic, unconscious, until Doctor Occult, you know, the mystic, found me and pulled me back. Nice man, even if eccentric. Ma and Pa thought I had died ..."

"This might be a repeat. On a much larger scale. Someone claiming to be one of ... them ... told me they are coming back."

"Coming back? Why?"

Batman slowly pointed a finger up at Mars, a tiny light in the starry sky.

"The mages have another one of them up there. She was captured all those years ago, and her relatives aren't happy."

"I see," Superman said quietly. "Well, okay, I can see how we'd need some extra help."

There was a short, thoughtful pause.

"I wonder if we ever could have a normal conversation."

"This is normal for me."

* * *

**Sunday Evening at Mahora:**

**Nodoka: Bubble Bobble**

A sopping wet Nodoka emerged from the cold waters of the practice pool, hair all over her face, kaffing and wheezing heavily.

"Nodoka!" Yue shouted, giving a step closer, but then the floating mermaid girl who was the card's spirit spat a stream of bubbles at her feet. The bubbles exploded in contact, and although they were rather harmless, they still forced Yue to back away in surprise.

That gave Nodoka the opening she had been waiting for. Running ahead while being careful of not slipping, she swung the Clow Staff up, hitting the young looking mermaid's back.

"Return to your true form, Clow Card!" she yelled, and then, with a choked sound, the magical creature was sucked into her card self, falling down like a dead weight into Nodoka's waiting hand.

"Hooray!" Kero cheered from the sidelines, pumping a paw up. "Nice job, Nodoka! You've caught The Bubble!"

The shy librarian nodded, breathing in and out, and gesturing for a pen. Yue handed it over dutifully, and Nodoka wrote her name on the card's back. It was done.

"It'd have been easier if Haruna had been here, though," Yue observed. "With her Artifact, we'd have no problems at all catching the cards."

Nodoka shook her head. "It's-It's okay. The cards aren't evil, or actually dangerous. There's no reason to bother Haruna over this."

"You know she'd actually love to help..." Yue pointed out.

"Maybe it's exactly because she'd love it so much," Nodoka sighed, trying to wring the water out of her skirt. "She'd take it all as a game, and besides, you know I'm required to catch the cards myself. Haruna is finding her own way, with Rito-san and the manga club and Ala Alba..."

Yue frowned. "Listen to yourself, Nodoka! Your way should be with Ala Alba, too! Haruna herself will tell you that readily!"

"Well," Nodoka sighed sadly just to change the subject, "There's one thing I could use from a Pactio now... These clothes are too wet to walk back home through the night in them. And if someone sees me, they'll make awkward questions. If I had a Pactio outfit to change into, it wouldn't be a problem, but after I lost the Create, I can't make myself any spares..."

"There are still several hours until dawn, and tomorrow's a free day," Yue said. "Just take them off and wait for them to get dry enough. This is an indoor pool, and no one will come for a long while."

Nodoka blinked, giving Yue a look of mild shock, before asking, "Really? I-I mean, you really think so...?"

Yue smiled a tiny smile. "Nodoka, maybe Haruna's right on something; maybe we should learn how to live a little looser. After all, we already are in the insanity, whether we want it or not, right?"

"R-Right."

Kero blinked. "I'm not sure I'm following you girls."

Yue kept on smiling, beginning to unbutton her top and keeping her weak blush hidden in the darkness. "I overheard a rumor Akira does this here often. If it's sane enough for Akira, it is for me too."

"R-Right..." Nodoka repeated, clumsily pulling her sopping top off.

After some quirks of an eyebrow, or what passed for an eyebrow in him, Kero turned around and began flying away at a stunned pace. "I think I'll go home ahead of you girls. Um, have fun."

Yue shuddered as she entered the pool in the bare. "I-It's colder than I expected...!"

Nodoka sighed, going in after her. "You get used to it after a while."

* * *

**Yue: Ripples in the Water**

They floated together in the cool waters of the indoor pool, moving around slowly, just enjoying the moment despite their shared nerves.

They both were rule abiding, fairly proper girls. A few months ago, they would have choked to half death at the simple thought of doing something like this.

"Things have changed a lot," mused Yue.

"Yes," replied her best friend. "It's scary, but I'm... actually glad they have," she shared. "It's like my eyes have been opened to so many things. Before, it was like I lived in a box, but now, the world seems so wide, so full of wonders to explore, I... I'm scared of it all, but I also want to keep walking this path forever."

Yue bobbed her head aside to smile and give her friend a placid gaze. Under the silver moonlight falling on them from the skylight, Nodoka's features were almost supernaturally beautiful and delicate. Yue felt her heart going faster. Dammit.

Nodoka exhaled a tiny sigh, and the sight of those pinkish lips half open while water droplets ran down that lovely face troubled Yue even more.

"I don't know how to walk that path, though..." Nodoka's voice cracked for a moment. She had been left behind in the race for Negi's heart, and Kotaro-kun was just a memory left at Kyoto now. Her feelings were a confusing mess, and while she felt confident while chasing the cards, once the thrill of those hunts was over the reality of her personal life sank back in.

Haruna never understood, and her parents couldn't even be asked. She was deadly afraid of telling Negi, and he always was surrounded by prettier, better, stronger girls. She wanted to keep going so badly, but how—?

"Together," Yue whispered, and intertwined her fingers with hers.

Nodoka's head snapped aside to look at her. For a moment, they only looked at each other's eyes, and finally, they shared a tender comforting smile.

Nodoka moved in for a hug, pressing the shorter girl against herself. Yue felt goosebumps all over her skin, and not only because of the cold water. But clumsily, she hugged back, resting her hands over Nodoka's buttocks, high enough to avoid giving the wrong (wrong?) idea, and her chin on Nodoka's right shoulder.

"Together," Nodoka was echoing her whisper now.

"Yes."

They stayed that way for a few more moments until Yue pulled back uneasily. "I... I think your clothes must be dry enough by now..."

"A-Ah, yes, of course..."

Yue hung slightly behind while watching Nodoka pull herself up from the pool, walking back to her clothes and using a gentle draft from The Windy to dry herself before getting dressed back.

It dawned on Yue they could just have used the card to dry the clothes up from the start. She wondered if Nodoka had actually forgotten that as well, or it was just...

Well. It didn't matter. It had been better this way.

* * *

**Nagi: The Fallen.**

He kept on sleeping soundly, undisturbed in the darkness.

* * *

**Ayaka: Mommy Dearest.**

"Okajima-san, " she asked as they went over the papers, "Why does my mother spend fifteen thousand yen a month in an Italian massageur named Alessandro?"

Rock, as his friends knew him, struggled hard and desperately for a few moments to find a suitable answer. Sweating streams of ice, the accountant simply ended up saying, "Greeks are more expensive, she said...?"

She shrugged while flipping another page. "Just asking. Wait, Father also has one named Piero..?"

* * *

**Omake: Sneezing Powderkeg.**

What do you mean 'It's contagious'?" Chisame asked, keeping a wary distance.

Negi sniffled and rubbed his nose. "It's Magical Flu. Anyone who gets it will get to sneeze the same way the person who contagied them does, uncontrollably..."

Chisame paled. "Wh-Who were you hanging with?-!"

He blew his nose, facing away from her. "I, I was in a meeting with the other teachers and the Dean today..."

"Oh my God!"

* * *

"ACHOO!"

"Ah!" Kafuka said. "Itoshiki-sensei has brought a liberating wind upon us, which has left us in a perfect state of disconnection to mundane material belongings!"

Chiri pulled the spade from under her desk and leaped at the teacher. **"DIE, PERVERT!"**

—-

"AT-CHOO!"

Mido Miko-sensei's classes suffered no actual changes, all things considered.

—-

"A-ATCHOOOOO!"

"... You know I'll be suing, Konoemon-sensei, " Shizuna tried to keep a stoic face.

—-

"BWAK, BWAK, BWAAK-ATCHOOO!"

Boo-sensei's jaw hit the floor, as he saw, in a flutter of feathers falling to the floor, all his pupils were actually chickens! GIANT CHICKENS!

—-

"ATCHOOOO!" Ryoko-sensei sneezed.

For once, Yui couldn't put the blame on Yuuki-kun.

—-

"Hey, Dad!" Yuuna walked in. "You left this book you said you'd need today on your—"

"AT-CHOOOOOO!"

That day, her Electra Complex became seven shades of worse.

* * *

**Omake: We will Save this World.**

The room was dimly lit as the hooded figure sitting at the council table's head spoke. "Are you sure you weren't followed?"

"Completely sure," the first of her subordinates (because the voice coming from under the hood was clearly that of a girl) answered.

"Same here," another hooded girl added.

"Ditto," a fourth hooded female said, nodding as she chewed on a piece of Pocky.

"No one suspects I'm here," a hooded male said.

The lead figure looked at the empty seat. "How strange. There is one of us missing. She's either been stopped and captured, or she's late. I hope she isn't late! People with bad habits of unpunctuality angers me! And without her here, there's only five of us! An uneven number, how troubling!"

"Then, do we call the meeting off?" one of the girls asked.

The leader gave it some deep thought. "No," she ended up saying. "No matter our losses, we must go on ahead! Our noble task demands every effort we can devote to it, and there's no time to waste before the infection spreads beyond this Academy!" She pulled her hood back. "I, Kitsu Chiri, declare the start of the first meeting of LANCER, the League Against Negi Springfield's Erotic Decadence! Now, show your faces and say your names, fellow members!"

The red haired girl pulled her hood back. "Moved by pure and honest love for Kaji-sama! Despising all clueless brats! Soryu Asuka Langley!"

The short girl with the funny voice pulled her hood back too. "Protecting Mikoto Onee-sama against all sexual predators and Casanovas, even the innocent looking ones! Paladin of the Single-Target Sexuality! Shirai Kuroko!"

The grinning red-head with the Pocky in her mouth pulled the hood back as well. "Puella Magi with no place for romantic silliness! Doing this for kicks between Witch hunts! Sakura Kyoko here!"

The boy was the last one to pull his hood back. "Representing all those who can't compete! Fighting for a future where there are girlfriends for all of us! Saruyama Kenichi at your service, Ma'am!"

"Excellent" Chiri smiled. "The five of us will be the start of a turnaround that will save this Academy from a grim future of debauchery! Sisters, brother, ours is to reclaim this school for sanity and propriety! We will show everyone how—!"

"STOP!" a blue haired short girl stormed into the room, panting furiously. "President, you must stop this meeting before you reveal compromising information to the enemy!"

"Ah, Nishizawa Momoka-san!" Chiri said. "I hope you have a good explanation for your late arrival, not to mention showing up without your official conspiracy hood! I spent a whole night sewing these for you all, you know!"

"I do!" Momoka nodded fast. "Thanks to my family's resources, I learned the Negi Legions sent a spy among us! Someone who has been tricked with lies and depravity to join the enemy side and infiltrate us!"

"Oh?" Chiri arched an eyebrow in a perfectly symmetrical way. "And who would that happen to be?"

"YOU!" Momoka angrily pointed at Kyoko. "I know EVERYTHING! They promised you a threesome with Negi-sensei and Sayaka! Confess your crimes!"

"CRAP!" Kyoko leaped aside before anyone could catch her, using her spear to shatter a window and jump out through it. "But you'll never get me alive, suckers!"

The assembled society stayed behind, blinking.

"I could teleport after her..." Kuroko finally offered.

Chiri waved a hand. "Never mind that. The most important thing is we're down to five members again. We need a new sixth one. Anyone here has the Joker's phone number...?"

* * *

**Extra: Class 3-A Roster!**

**Student 1: Aisaka Sayo.**

Died in 1940. Don't move her seat. Friends with Kuchiki Rukia, Komori Kiri and Kurosaki Ichigo. Only the three of them, plus Negi Springfield, Kasuga Misora and Sawada Mio, can see and hear her.

**Student 2: Akashi Yuuna.**

Basketball Club. Professor Akashi's daughter. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 3: Asakura Kazumi.**

Newspaper Club.

**Student 4: Ayase Yue.**

Children Literature Society, Philosopher's Society, Library Exploration Club.

**Student 5: Izumi Ako.**

Health Officer, Manager of the Soccer Club.

**Student 6: Ookuchi Akira.**

Swimming Team. Secret Identity: Sailor Mercury. Only Aino Minako (Sailor Venus), Artemis the cat, Sailor Pluto, Yuuna and Ako know her secret.

**Student 7: Kakizaki Misa.**

Mahora Cheerleading, Chorus Club. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 8: Kagurazaka Asuna.**

Fine Arts Club. Powerful kick. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 9: Kasuga Misora.**

Track and Field Club. Mahora Branch of the Mary Magdalene Order. Codenamed 'Mysterious Sister'. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 10: Karakuri Chachamaru.**

Tea Ceremony Club, Go Club. Two years old.

**Student 11: Kugimiya Madoka.**

Mahora Cheerleading, SOS Brigade.

**Student 12: Ku Fei.**

Chinese Martial Arts Society.

**Student 13: Konoe Konoka.**

Fortune Telling Society, Library Exploration Club. Granddaughter of the Principal. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 14: Saotome Haruna.**

Manga Club, Library Exploration Club. Codenamed 'Speed Grapher'. Yuuki Rito's girlfriend. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 15: Sakurazaki Setsuna.**

Kendo Club. Kyoto Shinmeiryuu School. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 16: Sasaki Makie.**

Gymnastics Club. Ministra to Skuld.

**Student 17: Shiina Sakurako.**

Mahora Cheerleading, Lacross Club. Hakase Satomi's girlfriend. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 18: Tatsumiya Mana.**

Biathon Club (Extracurricular). Official Caretaker of the Tatsumiya shrine with apprentice Munakata Shiho.

**Student 19: Chao Lingshen.**

Cooking Club, Chinese Martial Arts Society, Robotics Club, Eastern Medicine Society, Bioengineering Club, Quantum Mechanics Club. The best grades in the whole Academy.

**Student 20: Nagase Kaede.**

Walking Club. Miroku Ninja. Professor Mido's niece.

**Student 21: Naba Chizuru.**

Astronomy Club.

**Student 22: Narutaki Fuuka.**

Walking Club. Oldest (for a minute and a half) of the Narutaki twins. Miroku Ninja in training.

**Student 23: Narutaki Fumika.**

Beautification Officer, Walking Club. Miroku Ninja in training.

**Student 24: Hakase Satomi.**

Robotics Club, Jet Propulsion Club. Shiina Sakurako's girlfriend. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 25: Hasegawa Chisame.**

Second at command of Ala Alba. Great with computers. Also known as the Virtual Idol 'Chiu'. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 26: Evangeline Anastasia Katherine Mc Dowell.**

Go Club, Tea Ceremony Club. Contact Takamichi in case of emergency. Also known as the Queen of Darkness, Mistress of Puppets, Dark Evangel, and Kitty. At least seventy hundred years old. Defeated by Negi during battle at the Mahora Suspension Bridge.

**Student 27: Miyazaki Nodoka.**

Librarian, Reader's Club, Library Exploration Club. Card Captor and official heiress of mage Clow Reed's legacy. Cards currently owned: The Windy, The Jump, The Create, The Card, The Tentacle, The Bubble.

**Student 28: Murakami Natsumi.**

Theater Club.

**Student 29: Yukihiro Ayaka.**

Class Representative, Equestrian Club, Floral Club. Asuna's best friend. Ministra to Negi Springfield.

**Student 30: Yotsuba Satsuki.**

School Dining Officer, Cooking Club.

**Student 31: Zazie Rainyday.**

Juggling Club, Magic Club. True name impossible to pronounce by human tongues. 'Zazie' is the closest approximation human language can achieve both to it and her late younger sister's. Also known in her homeland as 'Poyo'.

**Student 32: Skuld Odinson.**

'Odinson' is a false family name. Magistra to Morisato Keiichi and Sasaki Makie.

* * *

**NEXT: **Negi.


End file.
